By AMBER MEAGER
Meager@newsroom.byu.edu
Archaeological data supports the notion of a historical Israel described in the Bible, said William G. Dever, professor of Near Eastern archaeology and anthropology at the University of Arizona Center for Near Eastern studies. Dever's address at the Forum Tuesday disproved the Bible revisionists who believe there were no historical figures, no united monarchy, no exodus to Egypt and no conquest of Palestine described in the Bible.
'In short, they argue that the Bible is not historical,' Dever said.
Revisionists believe that the Hebrew Bible was not written in the Iron Age of ancient Palestine between 1200-600 B.C., but was written during the Hellenistic period, second century B.C.
'According to this theory, ancient and Biblical Israel are only social constructs,' Dever said.
The revisionists support post-modernism, a late 20th Century movement that rejects the 'western cultural tradition and everything that comes as a part of it. Not only the enlightenment, science, and reason, but of course the biblical world in which rests the foundation of western tradition,' Dever said.
Dever, who has directed several excavations in Israel for more than 30 seasons, said he is aware of several archaeological findings that disprove a strictly literary notion of the Bible.
Dever showed slides of several historical sites and artifacts that gave a 'tiny hint of the mass of information that archaeology now has on an ancient Israel that supposedly never existed,' he said.
Dever said there is evidence of 300 early villages in Israel all dating back to the late 12th and early 13th century and described accurately in the Bible.
'The Biblical writers, had they lived only in the second century B.C. or the Hellenistic period, could not possibly have invented the stories of life a thousand years earlier and got the details right,' Dever said.
Dever said archaeology has revolutionized our knowledge of the origins of early Israel.
Archaeological data supports the notion of a united monarchy in the 10th century described in Bible, Dever said. Dever said the Bible stories of King Solomon, though somewhat exaggerated, are not false as revolutionists would have us believe. Ancient writers of the Bible were only saying that Solomon was rich, ruled a big area, and a lot of women liked him, Dever said.
Archaeological findings show that of the twelve districts that Solomon supposedly ruled mentioned in the Bible, nearly all of them show evidence of centralization on a large scale, which suggests an Israelite state, Dever said.
'It is almost as if they say the Bible is guilty until proven innocent,' Dever said.
Brenley Lewis, 20, a Senior in public relations from Springfield, Ore. said studying the Bible is important because it informs us of scholars' theories about the validity of the Bible as a text.
'I found it enlightening to understand ideas on proving the Bible through archaeological research,' Lewis said.
Michelle Munsey, a research assistant for FARMS, thinks that it is important for BYU students to be aware of scholars outside of the church and how they are helping to establish the Bible, its people and its message.
'This man is in the search of truth and it is important for us to see other scholars in the pursuit of truth and honesty,' Munsey said.
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